Cynotilapia Afra...

[darrel69]

I already have a male Cynotilapia Afra who is boss of the tank. He is the only C.Afra i have (apart from a small suspected female who is yet to be identified, but thats a different thread!!) Anyway, i found a female for him and she looks fully grown. I added her about four days ago. At first, she was ok, but now he's bullying her !!

He shows his brightest colours and does this weird dance round her, she swims off and he chases her everywere. she cant find peace anywere. i think he's really stressing her out i dunno what to do ??? think its best to take her back ??? its a shame because she looks really nice

 

[dthoffsett]

What size is your tank and what do you have it stocked with?

Did you move around any rocks when adding the new fish?

C.afra as with other mbuna are harem breeders and should have at least 3 females for every male, a solitary female will often be singled out and either bullied or constantly pressed to mate.

Either your male is defending his territory from an intruder (the female) or he's trying to get her to mate whether she wants to or not.

 

[darrel69]

What size is your tank and what do you have it stocked with?

Did you move around any rocks when adding the new fish?

C.afra as with other mbuna are harem breeders and should have at least 3 females for every male, a solitary female will often be singled out and either bullied or constantly pressed to mate.

Either your male is defending his territory from an intruder (the female) or he's trying to get her to mate whether she wants to or not.

My tank is 190litre, 50 gal, & is stocked with...
3 c.afra 1male 2female (turns out i have another female i didnt know off),
3 m.auratus 3female,
2 m.lombardoi 2female,
3 m.estherae 1male 2young,
1 p.socolofi 1young,
1 unknown small mbuna which i think female (will be posting pics soon for ID's)
and 5 peacocks of some sort (will be posting pics soon for ID's)

i do usually move rocks about when adding new fish, but at the same time as adding this female, i actually added more rocks so i didnt bother. maybe i should have done ? ...

ok, you know like i said earlier, ever since i added her, shes been constantly harassed, chased and having her fins nipped... well the past couple of days, ive noticed the male digging a den behind and under a big rock i have, he dont let any other fish near it, and earlier today, before i switched the light on, i was surprised to see him & the female together, looked like there were mating, in his den !!

after a cppl of minutes, they got disturbed, he chased off the 'intruder' and she waited in the den. he came back and they were at it again, im sure they were definately mating.

however that didn't last long, half an hour later and he's chasing her off again, and carrying on with his digging.

so i dont know what to do for the best ? is this normal, is it part of their mating ritual ? or is she being overly harrased and be best off being removed ? come to think of it... most of the females i have and have had, get treated badly of the males, except for a femle m.lombardoi i have that dont take sh*t of noone !!

 

[dthoffsett]

I think the main problems are that you are a bit overstocked, and have two very aggressive species (m.auratus & m.lombardoi) that IMO should only be kept in a minimum of 75 gal and preferably a species only tank. Plus your peacocks have little chance of standing up to the aggression mbuna can met out.

Personally, I would rehome the m.auratus, m.lombardoi, & 5 peacocks. That would leave you with:
1m/2f c.afra, I would add one more females
1m/2 young m.estherae, if the young turn out to be males, replace them with females, and add another female
1 p.socolofi, I'd go with 1m/3f

That would give you a total of twelve adults (once fully grown of course) which is a bit more realistic for your tank size. Now, if your tank is 4 feet long you could add another species of 1m/3f, but I'd avoid any of the more aggressive species.

That's just my opinion, I'm sure others will chime in as well.

 

[darrel69]

ok, thanks for your advice. as for the female c.afra, im taking her back first thing tomorrow morning. she's getting way to much harrassment from the male. she's starting to look wraggy with the stress and nipped fins, poor thing...

 

[darrel69]

Well, ive took her back, and everything seems alot calmer lol ... i didn't exchange her for another one tho, im being extra careful with fish i choose from now on. i also plan on trying to re-home a thew other fish i have to avoid any future problems. Anyway, i explained what had happened and they've put her into one of their treatment tanks for a while before she is put back into the main tank.

While i had her, i managed to take some photos ...

These two are the same, just that the first one shows were the female is in the background. I couldn't get a descent photo of her because she was always in his den or hiding somewere else. If she ever left his den, he hunt her down and attack her !! but while she was there, she were ok. He treat her awful & always kept an eye on her....

These two shows him guarding his cave/den, with her init...

This is him calm and relaxed lol, also now she's gone...

I also got a video of them together in his den but photobucket wont let me upload it...

I really hope he doesnt treat the other female afra i have like that. She's only young & been settled in now for quite abit. Do you think she'd get the same maybe when she's older ???

 

[dthoffsett]

I think if you were to add around 3 females at once, after rearranging the tank you might have a better chance on a single one not getting picked on. However, you may just have gotten a male that won't tolerate any other of his species.

As long as you can get ahold of 3 girls, and the LFS will take them back if there are any problems, I'd give it another try.